MR MASSEY AND ECONOMY.

Evening Star, Issue 15065, 23 December 1912, Page 9

MR MASSEY AND ECONOMY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I am wondering how many generations will pass before the people of',-'this debt-ridden country will come to-possess a- true sense of proportion in; the matter of economy. That we commenced to lose it as soon as we < began work on the borrowed credit is a certainty (some people would call it borrowed money, but that is a fallacy) ; tho more credit wo borrowed the more we lost the desire for economy, and we have been working in that" direction ever since. That the Seddon and Ward Ministries are largely responsible for this state of affairs is also a certainty, and the so-called Reform Government promise to show that history can bo, repeated. It appears impossible to find any set of public men who will act as carefully with other people's money as with their own. The Massey party, when in Opposition, were always complaining- of / the so-called Liberals' waste and extravagance—and not without reason. /But" now they are in power they are looking through a different pair of "spectacles; they are commencing to use the public money and to be more than generous with it. Tho institution of a Civil Service Board mav be very commendable, but it is easy "to expect more from it than you will get. The supposed merit of it is that it removes the Service from political influence, which has yet to be proved. It may, however, be freely admitted that the removal is badly needed, and if about half the Service is moved out of existence by a simplification of the svstem it would be better still; but it should not be necessary to pay fancy prices even for this relief. The proposed payment for the services ■ of the board was £I,OOO a year for tho chief and £BOO each for two assistants, that was too much; if the figures had been £BOO and £SOO respectively good men could have been found for the position. The proposition had pcarcelv before it was altered to £.1,300 for the chief and £I,OOO for each, assistant. It is so easy to be generous with the public money. After a while came the appointments, which •re said to be good; and I hope they are. Mr Robertson is admittedly «apable and conscientious. His career m the Postal Department, where he neJd a most responsible position, has been satisfactory; there is no part of the Pubbo Service so directly and immediately responsible to the public £ 3 Robertson's salary has been £I,OOO per annum. Has he been poorly paid? Has it been a sweating wage? Or has Mr Robertson's ability suddenly and mysteriously increased in S™ mGa . su /e tha <> °?e day it is worth i.1,000 and the nest day £1,300° The same argument may be and should be applied to Mr Thomson, holding the position of Stipendiary Magistrate—an important and onerous post, second onlyto a Supreme Court Judge. If his services are fairly well paid at £6OO per annum (and no one disputes the tact), why should his services in his new position, which by no parity of reasoning can be pronounced more .SS°?SR% tH assessed at £ V°QO? It ,13. ovident that these hi*h salaries do not,, make' these gentlemen any cleverer or any : wiser. It is also evident that their working hours during the day or the week will bo no longer. Some people will argue it is to keep them honest, but that would be an insult to men who have already been -proved in that way. JLs it uoL putting

the cart before the horse to begin with high salaries before they have commenced their task ? Time enough for that as a reward for work well and faithfully clone. It is not a pleasant thing to have to criticise these appointments, and doubtless I shall bo told these gentlemen if engaged in commerce would make much more; but that is not the point—it may or it may not he so. One thing, however, is certain: that no Civil servant has the worry and_ caro that even a most successful business man lias. If wool goes down, if the crops are had, if men go on strike, it does not disturb the even tenor of the official's way. His cheque comes in at the end of the month, and when he comes to the retiring age there is a pension; so that if his salary were less than his confrere's in the outside world of trade and commerce, he yet is more favorably placed. Instead of being thrown on the scrap-heap at 40, to make room for a youugster with much effrontery and less brains, he is assured that his age and experience will bring him what it should bring every man—via., increased income. But there are other sides to this question, and one is that wo cannot afford to pay these high salaries that the Massey Ministry are commencing with. For the last 20 years the country has been saturated with extravagance. It is only a cabbage-patch of a country with a handful of people in it, and we are putting on a lot of sillyfrill in managing it that will bring us only the contempt of older and wiser nations. But where is the logic of those wiso men (who before they took office were so eager to show what they could tin") in offering high salaries for routine work oil the one hand, and on the other sending Home one of their number on a special mission begging more borrowed money to pay them with?—which may appeal to some as statesmanship, but to me has a wonderful likeness to the wisdom of the parish pump. And after all we must not lose sight of this fact: that these appointments—viz., the Railway Manager and the Service Board—are for the purpose of relieving the Ministers holding these portfolios of all the trouble and most of the responsibility; otherwise it is a strange thing that these gentlemen, whoso motto is "To the pure all things are pure," and therefore would not mako improper appointments, should be in such a hurry to give over their duties almost before they have become acquainted with them.—l am, etc., Index. Nelson, December 18.